U.S. subsidiary of Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo to pay $35 million over improper ADRs: SEC

Reuters Staff

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. subsidiary of Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges it violated U.S. securities laws governing the issuance of American Depositary Receipts, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

The SEC said in a statement that Banca IMI Securities Corp., a U.S. subsidiary of Banca IMI, which is part of Intesa Sanpaolo, had requested the issuance of and received ADRs without possessing the underlying foreign shares.

“An agreement, considered positively by SEC, which envisages the payment of $35 million, was reached and (the amount) was set aside,” according to the document, deposited at the beginning of this month.

The investigation started in February 2016 and interactions between the lender and SEC had reached a final phase at the end of the first half of the accounting year, the document added.

Intesa Sanpaolo declined to comment.

Reporting by David Alexander; Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti in Milan; Editing by Mohammad Zargham/Jeremy Gaunt